Back in 1996, I remember when the Spice Girls were on MTV with their first music video “Wannabe”. There they were, Ginger Spice (Geri Halliwell), Sporty Spice (Melanie Chisholm), Scary Spice (Melanie Brown), Posh Spice (Victoria Beckham), and Baby Spice (Emma Bunton), a quintet of gorgeous pop stars. Each Spice Girl is different, which makes them a great team of singers. “Girl power!”

Soon more music videos followed and they just got better and better. Even the “Pepsi” commercial was awesome. I became so into their music that I not only got all of their albums, but each of their singles too. The only reason for that was because each single also included a bonus track, which wasn’t featured on any of the albums. I don’t understand why that was.

I also used to collect Spice Girls merchandise. Most of which was the little unauthorized biography books and issues of Spice Girls magazines. Remember these?

In 1997, shortly after the release of their second album, the Spice Girls had their own movie called Spice World. It was most often described as, “A rip-off from A Hard Day’s Night“, but I thought it was a creative film based on the misadventures of these lovely pop stars as exaggerated stereotypes of themselves.

As the Spice Girls travel with their road manager Clifford (Richard E. Grant), they ride in a double-decker bus that works like a five-person apartment. Each Spice Girl has her own section filled with their favorite things based on their personas. Now that’s impressive. Did those doors say, “Maximum Capacity 5 Girls”?

The Spice Girls have all sorts of strange encounters. For instance, while in the woods, they find aliens from outer space who are very big fans. The aliens wanted tickets to their concert at Albert Hall, but they were all sold out. It doesn’t surprise me. I can remember hearing on MTV news one time that tickets to other Spice Girls concerts get sold out as quickly as 12 minutes. I wonder if that’s a world record.

Another interesting scene was when the Spice Girls spend the night in a big old house where Damien (Richard O’Brien), a paparazzi, sneaks around like a ninja to collect some dirt on them. Somehow I can definitely see the paparazzi as ninjas with cameras. Think about it. They hide in the shadows and sneak around while stalking their targets. Then after taking a shot, they quickly disappear without a trace. Later comes assassination, courtesy of the dirt on the tabloids. It goes to show that all celebrities have to be cautious because those paparazzi ninjas are everywhere.

Then there’s a scene about the Spice Girls as the “Spice Force Five”. Emma is the martial arts expert, Mel C as a counter espionage agent, Mel B as the explosives expert, Geri as a master of disguise, and Victoria who just looks good. I could see this as a TV series. Too bad it never happened.

The Spice Girls may have their differences, but they seem like a fun group. When things got tough, they stuck together through it all.

If I had to choose my most favorite Spice Girl, it would be a tie between Baby Spice and Sporty Spice, but it was really what the five of them could do together that truly makes the Spice Girls a top singing group to me. That’s why I felt that everything changed after Geri left the group when she did. In fact, it wouldn’t have made any difference if any one of the others had left instead. Soon they all went solo. Some of those albums were good, but the originals Spice and Spiceworld are the real classics.